Roses and Regrets

Roses and Regrets

Chapter 25

"What are you?" Beth waited for his answer. His gaze never wavered as he said, "I'm a demon in human form." He waited for her reaction. "Yusuke and the others?" "Yusuke is half demon, Hiei is a full demon, and Kuwabara is a spiritually aware human." She digested that bit of news.

"I think my perspective on good and evil is a little skewed at the moment, so you'll have to help me out here. The thing from my dream, I assume it was a demon." She paused and he nodded. "Keiko doesn't seem distressed by any of this, so I am also guessing that you and the others are the good guys."

"It could also be a matter of perspective. We do work frequently for the Reikai." "And that is?" He gave her a short, but detailed description of the differences between the Reikai, the Makai, and the Ningenkai. "Ok. I think I've got that part. Why is it you and the others don't look like those?" She waved a hand at the bodies of the attackers. "Demons come in all forms. There are a great many who closely resemble humans in physical appearance."

"And are there a great many of those who live among us?" "A few. Mostly those like us with some sort of tie to the human world." "And what is it that ties you guys to the human world?" "Yusuke was born human. His mother is here and Keiko of course. Hiei is our friend and part of the team. He divides his time between here and the Makai."

"And you?" He drew in a breath. This was going to be the hard one. "I am a spirit fox. My name is Youko Kurama. In the Makai, I am known as a notorious thief. A very skilled hunter came close to capturing me. I was severely wounded. I managed to separate my soul from my body and I escaped to the Ningenkai. I needed a physical body so that I would have time to recover my powers. I had limited time. I got lucky and found a woman who was carrying a dying fetus. I merged with it and was born into a human body."

"I planned to regain my powers and return to the Makai. Fate intervened. You saw the scars on my mothers hands and arms?" She nodded. "I was young in human years, my body still awkward. The independence of my demon side got me into trouble from time to time. I needed something that was out of reach. I thought nothing of climbing up to get it. I lost my balance and fell, glass shattering on the floor underneath me. My mother saved me. She was cut up instead."

His voice was wistful as he recounted the incident. "It was the first time in my life I was loved unconditionally. No one had ever made that kind of sacrifice for me. I couldn't leave her." "Does your mother know the truth?" "No. It is better that she doesn't know." "Better for who?" He had no answer for her. He wasn't really sure himself anymore.

"That's why you always seemed older and wiser than your years. Exactly how old are you?" He had known she'd get around to that. "I lost track of the exact age a long time ago." "Nice try. Estimate?" "Something just over a thousand." Her eyes grew wide. "Ok. We'll leave that one alone for a while."

It was time now for the really hard questions. "I'm not having visions, or precognitive dreams, or whatever. Am I?" "No, you are not." "You want to elaborate?" "It is complicated." "So give me the cliff note version." "I'm not sure you're ready to deal with it."

"I just watched a battle that was like something out of the Twilight Zone. And now I'm sitting here having a polite conversation with a thousand year old demon. I doubt there is much that's going to shock me at this point." He chuckled. "When you put it that way, probably not."

"Ok. The visions were planted into your mind with the express purpose of causing insanity." "That doesn't make sense. What would be gained by that?" "Access to your inheritance through your guardianship." "But the only one that could possibly profit from that would be…. Uncle Russ?" She shook her head. "No. I won't believe it. He couldn't."

Kurama knew he would have to give her the details. He also knew she was going to be very hurt. "Our current mission for the Reikai involves the smuggling of very powerful demons into the human world. We traced the operation to Carter International. Your father probably stumbled onto the truth and was killed for it." Tears were flowing down her cheeks now. "Your Uncle Russ is a demon."

Her head snapped up. "How long have you known this? You knew the night I introduced you, didn't you?" He nodded. "He doesn't bother to suppress his energy. It's obvious to anyone with an awareness. He was here earlier." "How do you know that?" "Every energy signature is unique. Like human fingerprints. Every demon and spiritually aware human can sense the energy signature and identify it's owner by it."

"Then he didn't know about you. You were suppressing your energy weren't you?" "Yes. He found out when I released it for the battle. That's when he ran." "I suppose it would have been a shock to him. With the vision I had, he expected you to be human didn't he?" He nodded. "It was a well thought out plan. My sanity would have definitely been in question if I claimed you were killed by a demon."

She settled her head on her knees once again. "You are a powerful demon, aren't you?" Again he nodded. There was no reason to lie to her. She had seen the battle. "A class in this form. S class in my Youko form." He then gave her a description of the various classes of demons.

It was hard to reconcile the man sitting here calmly explaining about all things demon, to the ruthless demon she had watched in battle earlier. He was once again the polite, gentle man she had come to know. Which of the two sides was the real one? Or was he a little of both? Could the human side be as ruthless as the demon? Could the demon side be as gentle as the human?

She was silent for so long that he was becoming concerned. "Do you have any more questions? I know you have to find this hard to believe." She looked up. "Believing it is the easy part. I watched the battle, and everything you've told me is just too damn bizarre to be anything but the truth. I couldn't make this stuff up on my best day."

She sighed. "Believing is easy. Deciding where to go from here is the hard part."

To be continued….